Best news of the day, other than this, of course.
WHY AM I SUPPOSED TO HATE ‘X-MEN: LAST STAND’?
The third and final installment of the original is no classic but after watching it again last week, I still don’t understand why I’m supposed to hate it so much. Is it just because Brett Ratner directed? The story moves really well, the action is exciting, the climax feels like a climax.
I just don’t get it.
The same way it drives me crazy when I don’t love movies everyone else does (“Raging Bull,” “2001”), it drives me crazy when I enjoy something universally despised. Deep down inside, I really do want to conform and be cool like everyone else.
Another question: why did Wolverine have to kill Jean at the end? Is there some reason he couldn’t have given her the mutant antidote … that just happened to be laying all over the ground?
FX SETS MIDSEASON PREMIERE DATES: ‘JUSTIFIED’ RETURNS JAN. 17; ‘ARCHER’ JAN. 19
“Justified” feels like a show I should be watching.
TOM HANKS BACK TO WWII FOR IN THE ‘GARDEN OF BEASTS‘
And by “WWII” they of course mean The War of Racism and Terror.
Does this mean Hanks is done making unwatchable, multi-million dollar movies portraying my faith as a big sham? Cuz that would be nice.
‘HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2’ BANNED IN AUSTRALIA
I have never read so much about a movie that absolutely no one saw or is interested in seeing. NO ONE cares, and yet the publicity machine makes it sound like we’re in the middle of some kind of phenom.
PRETEENS WATCH MORE TV THIS FALL, BUT NICKELODEON, CARTOON NETWORK DROP
If I had kids, the only channels that would be accessible would be Turner Classic Movies and Fox News. Other than that, I can’t imagine allowing Hollywood to in any way define who my children would become.
My child’s life would be dominated by homeschooling, church, John Wayne, and a lifetime membership to the National Rifle Association. Every morning we’d raise the flag and every evening we’d roast all-beef hot dogs to a hippie burning in effigy.
ELVIS COSTELLO: DON’T BUY MY $225 BOX SET
Done. You’re welcome.
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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING
Yesterday in the mail my Blu-ray copies of “Gran Torino,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Dark Knight,” “The Good the Bad and The Ugly,” and (tee hee) “The Adventures of Robin Hood” arrived. It’s going to be a good weekend.
“Gran Torino” gets better every time I watch it. It’s amazing how a then 78 year-old Clint Eastwood can still command the screen as a total badass. After three stinkers (“Invictus,” “The Hereafter,” and “J. Edgar”) let’s hope that whatever he does next is a return to form.
Last night, though, it was more episodes of “The Wild Wild West,” which I’m enjoying even more than I hoped I would. It’s one of those rare shows without any growing pains. The formula works immediately, and the first show plays as well as any of the later episodes. That’s pretty rare. For example, the first season of the otherwise brilliant “Seinfeld” pretty much sucks.
What a brilliant piece of casting Ross Martin was. His turn as Artemus Gordon and his chemistry with Robert Conrad elevate the show above the formulaic. The same is true for the score, which is one of the best in series television.
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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINK-TACULAR
TNT TO EXTEND MYSTERY MOVIE NIGHT FRANCHISE
WE’RE GONNA GET THAT ‘POLTERGEIST’ REMAKE NO ONE WANTS
THE 99TH BIRTHDAY OF HOLLYWOOD TECHNICOLOR FILMS
CHARLIZE THERON WAS BULLIED BY MEAN GIRLS IN SCHOOL
A REVIEW OF ALAN SPENCER’S SCRIPT FOR AN UNFILMED FOURTH ‘NAKED GUN’ FILM
WATCH ‘THE KARATE KID’ COMPRISED ENTIRELY OUT OF REHEARSAL FOOTAGE
WHAT IF ‘BACK TO THE FUTURE’ HAPPENED IN REAL LIFE?
9 INNOVATIONS OF THE ‘HALO’ FRANCHISE
CATCHING UP WITH TERRY GILLIAM…
… AND A LOOK AT THE VARIETY AD HE TOOK OUT TO PROTEST THE RE-EDITING OF ‘BRAZIL‘
THIS IS MY JOB: TV AND MOVIE ARMORER
ANNOYING TRENDS THAT MAKE EVERY MOVIE LOOK THE SAME
COOL INFOGRAPHIC: ANATOMY OF A STUNT DRIVER
INTRODUCE YOUR KIDS TO SCI-FI WITH THESE MUST-SEE MOVIES
50 REASONS WHY ‘THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY’ MIGHT BE THE BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME
LOOKING BACK AT BACK-TO-BACK MOVIES
25 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT ‘NETWORK‘
WHY THE (NEAR) DEATH OF FILM MATTERS
50 REASONS WE MISS ‘HARRY POTTER‘
THE MOST OBNOXIOUS ’90S CARTOON THEME SONGS
10 VAMPIRE STORIES THAT ARE MORE ROMANTIC THAN ‘TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN‘
BEFORE ‘THE EXORCIST’, THERE WAS ‘THE POSSESSION OF JOEL DELANEY‘
13 CLASSIC MOMENTS FROM ‘THE MUPPET SHOW‘
‘DR. WHO’ CHARACTERS WHO DESERVE THEIR OWN SPINOFF SERIES
THOUGHTS ON MOVIE TECHNIQUE AND MOVIE CRITICISM
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CLASSIC PICK FOR WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30
3:45 AM EST: Garbo Talks (1984) — A young man risks everything to help his dying mother meet Greta Garbo. Dir: Sidney Lumet Cast: Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver, Carrie Fisher. C-104 mins, TV-G.
A rare opportunity to see a woefully under-appreciated gem. This is the film that made me a Ron Silver fan for life, an actor who never really achieved the success his talents and presence deserved. Silver died way too young. One can only imagine the performances we missed.
The film itself is funny, warm, unique and contains one of the best job resignation scenes ever. The following year, Albert Brooks would take that scene to an even higher level in “Lost in America.”
Trust me, you want to DVR this. There just isn’t anything Sidney Lumet couldn’t do.
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